The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1887-09-09

All these years, however, the spirit Of
union was growing fast. There had been
from the first few who could "think con-
tinentally," as the phrase was They saw In
patriotic fancy time when all this country
should form ian empire Of free republics In
dissolubly united" Most active among these
wero Washington, Hamilton, Madison,
Gouverneur Morris and Gen. Philip Schuy-
ler They had many ardent supporters; but
the mass Of mankind are naturally decentrali-
zationists The citizen stands for his neigh
bors as against the next neighborhood, for his
county as against the state; he loves his own
state, and 1t is not till il becomes truly great
that his heart swells with pride at thought Of
his nation The states rights principle in our
system Is one that needs little cultivation
only intelligent direction. Sc the "Strong
Government Whigs," as they began to be
called, worked cautiously. Every scboolboy
knows the repeated difficulties Washington
had with their sovereignties, the states; how
often be appealed for stronger central
power, how often he had to literally beg the
state authorities to stand by him. And If
the local feeling has more than once proved
too strong within the memory Of living men,
what must 1t have been when as yet no glori-
0ns memories clustered about the general
RONeTunentt Wuch bicAS was but 'abuS
promise of union, but an ideal nationl
Nevertheless, there were few conditions
which made Americans one people. Though
planted In adverse interests at intervals
stretching over 1876 years, with forms Of gov
ernment varying from the extreme OF pro-
prietaryship to the extreme Democracy OF
Connecticut and Rhode Island, representing
at least six great branches Of Christianity,
and extremely diverse social and industrial
conditions, the colonies still had many more
points Of resemblance than Of dihsrenco
They an had the same language and substsz-
TALLY the same literature; they all claimed
the liberties of Englishmen and judged cases
upon the principles Of the English common
law; they were all planted by men who
loaged tor larger liberty, and were all
swayed by the same necessities as against
wild nature and the Indians, and most of all,
perhaps, the native born Americans were
similarly transformed from the European
type by breathing the air and seizing upou
the opportunities of q new continent Ths
result was apparent in this; the animositiss
OF the Seventeenth century between Puritan
and Quaker, and Yankee and Dutchman,
Protestant and Catholic had yielded q
rapidly that In the middle of the Eighteenth
century but trace remained; Catholic
Charles Carroll, Liberal stephen Hopkins
and Free Thinking Puritan Franklin
Joined In the public devotlons without
hesitation, and the new conner from Europs
remarked with amazement that there was
already the ono American type, with Local
variations less than marked the counties Of
England from Boston TO Savannah. While
the Lincolnshireman still laughed at the
4babble" of the Cornishman, and both Of
them regarded the Yorkshireman as an tout
languldged vurriner," it was but barely pos
sible (and seldom that in the continental CON
gress to distinguish the accents Of the Geor
gian and the Bostonisn ThA written Ian